It's the Final Countdown

It's happening. In 5 days, I'll be boarding a plane to come back home. But what feels weird, and slightly sad, is how at home I already feel here.

I was pretty emotional 3 and a half weeks ago when I was leaving for Italy. Ben, Cassie, and Hannah can attest to that, seeing as how they had to witness me spontaneously burst into tears. That was a pretty sight to leave you guys with, wasn't it?

They warn you of culture shock and how you experience euphoria at being in a new setting and then you go through phases that basically land you at feeling homesick. I never left euphoria though. My apartment feels like home. The first morning there, I shut my eyes in the shower, and heard someones voice that sounded just like my lady love, Hannah (we share a bathroom back home, and sometimes we talk when I'm in the shower, but I'm still not a lesbian, professoressa) and I thought I was home. It was weird to open my eyes in a foreign setting, pun intended. But pretty soon, everything felt so easy. I knew what I was seeing when I stepped out onto the street. I have the cafe I go to in the morning, I see my favorite barista, pay 1 euro for my espresso, and take another 5 minutes to walk to school at CAPA. I can stand in any point in the city and navigate my way home. I just look up, find the Duomo, and know where to go. When it's 4 in the morning, and I'm hungry, and I want Whataburger, and shed a couple of tears at the idea of not eating a cheeseburger, I just grab a roommate and walk to the 24/7 kebab shop. Because kebabs are amazing (and different) here and they always taste a little sweeter in the middle of the night.

I love that I'm traveling to the most unique and picturesque places that you would see on a postcard, but I get to see with my own eyes. Real and natural beauty. Buildings that have been here for centuries.

I just feel extremely comfortable here. I don't miss home, as in Texas, quite like I thought. I miss talking to some friends, especially after we FaceTime, but I'd just like it so much better if they came here with me!

I've been thinking about what I'll miss, and I regret not writing things a little more personal down in a journal like all the other artsy students here have done, but here's what I'll miss

Strangely enough, I'll miss the sound of church bells in the morning. I know you try to wake me up at 7, and 7:15, and 7:30... basically all day, but magically I still find a way to sleep till 1 in the afternoon if I need to.
I'm going to miss the sound of a child in my apartment building in the morning. Some mornings, it's squeals of delight and singing "Let It Go". Other mornings, it is the tortured screams of a brat who's parents are not obeying their will. Either way, it's an every morning traditions.
I'm gonna miss the clanking of silverware from the restaurant below my window. And on occasion, an Italian man belting a song of his people. It's so cool.
I'm going to miss the little dog that sits in the courtyard on the ground floor of my apartment. He, like all the other dogs here, are so well behaved. He never makes a break for the door outside and he never growls at me. He just looks at me as I yell "cane!" and proceed upstairs.
I WILL MISS THE COFFEE. I had a sweet interacting with my barista today. She has noticed that my roommate and I have been taking our coffee to go lately, mostly because we've had early mornings at the train stations. But she saw me, new exactly what I wanted, and remembered to ask if I wanted to take it away. I didn't because I wanted to sit down and study for my final, but I appreciated it. She has such a big and sweet smile and she never grimaces at my attempt to speak Italian. Hell, I'm going to miss her, too.
I'm going to miss having a convenience store right around the corner from my place. It's run by an Indian couple, and they give us a student discount, and help point me out to the food I need when I can't understand the labels.
GROM. I will miss you, Grom. Getting a snapchat from a roommate with the question "Grom later?" Of course. Always a yes. A small cone with caffe and chocolate even though they say those flavors are to strong together THAT'S WHAT I WANT BECAUSE ITS AMAZING.
I'll miss this culture. The appreciation for things like the company you're with and the food you're about to eat and the wine you're drinking. A culture of stop and smell the roses. I don't do that enough. But I'm happy I get to experience that here.
I'm going to miss my talks with my roommates. We share something, being here together. In the same boat. Always somehow being on the same wavelength of "Yeah, I'm really hungry" or "Yeah, we should probably get a bottle of wine". Sitting in the kitchen and making our own antipasto before or while we make dinner. Or going to see Daniele, who has the name of a girl but god he is gorgeous and he seems to always know that I need a refill on wine. And complementary bruschetta or limoncello is also always okay with me.
I'll miss CAPA. The staff at CAPA is so sweet, and all of them have a great sense of humor. They were so welcoming and have such great advice for this city. Professor Sara may speed walk like there's limited time left on this world, but damn she has a great teaching style. She does great at teaching about culture and history. These were never subjects I did well in, but she makes it all so effortless. And Professoressa, I will miss you even though you'll be in Texas with me! You are so carefree and fun here, not that you weren't at home, but here you are in your element! I love it. And I don't feel like a tourist with you.
Hahah i'll miss my game of "Spot the American", which isn't hard when they wear shorts that show their butt, like actually their cheeks, and screaming "OH MY GOSH" or saying something like "UMMM do you know where that big building is? Like...the only with the gold thing at the top?" Oh, the Duomo? One of the greatest pieces of architecture in the entire world? One of the symbols of Florence, the city your currently in? Stupid friggin idiots I swear. It's going to be strange to walk outside and not see that massive and beautiful building.

I have 5 days left. As nervous as I was to come here, that's actually how weird and nervous I feel to go home.

Don't worry. I miss my parents, my cat, my friends, cheeseburgers and BBQ and breakfast tacos and actually ANY breakfast food that doesn't look like a dessert! But there is charm and beauty and culture and history here. Back home... there's construction and renovation and the overall stresses of life.

It's just been great immersing myself in something new. I resolve to come back.

Woah, you made it to the bottom of this? I'm impressed.

San Giovanni

What have I been doing since Venice? Well, I've been really freaking tired. So I've watched a lot of South Park, did a little bit of studying, and a lot of relaxing. I live here in Florence, and I need days to stay in bed and relax, too. I can't be a tourist all the time.

Speaking of...

Sorry, I'm not sorry. 

Yesterday was the day for St. John. My friggin day, right?! But I somehow was caught up in my house again with the idea that I might actually study but instead downloading music and watching some sweet South Park (I can't get Netflix here, but I can stream South Park. Fate). 

I lost track of time for the parade for Calcio Storico, an intense soccer tournament between the districts of Florence, and that is really unfortunate. However, I did make it to the Arno for some fireworks. I could not help but think about the Fourth of July, and how seriously us Americans take our fireworks, but it was great. The show was about 45 minutes long. It was also kind of cute to hear the Italians "ooh" and "ah" at the bursts of colorful light. 

I could't help but think about how quickly my time is wrapping up here. There's only a week left. But standing with my friends on the river, eating gelato from Grom of course, was really a great way to think about the end of my trip. And to not study for the final I had this morning because I was wine sleepy. 

Venice-

So finally we go to Venice! We left on a train last Thursday, nice and early I'll add, to head out to Venice!

A city on the water. I mean water was EVERYWHERE! It was quite a sight. It reminded me how much I want to live on the water one day. 

The first day in Venice was typical and touristy - I mean we need one of those right? Lorenzo, one of the administrators of CAPA,  is a walking tour master. And I don't mean that as much as "He's really great at walking tours!" but a "Holy crap how does he walk so fast? Oh thank god we're stopping! Oh wait no he's moving again."

We took a tour of St. Mark's Basilica and Doge's palace, looking into the dungeons and at pieces of art and grande rooms. 

Then we got the rest of the day to ourselves. I went out to dinner - I was bamboozled out of lunch because we ran out of time, so I was ready to eat! 

The next day we went to the islands of Morano and Burano. First, Morano, which is known for their glass blowing. We went to the back of a shop where we actually got to see a man blow glass! He said that Tuesday Morning is one of his biggest customers. He made it look so effortless and easy, but everyone else who tried seemed to seriously struggle. 

 

After getting to walk around Morano for a bit, we went to Burano, the place of the beautiful and brightly colored houses and also well known for making lace. The first, and most important stop for me, was lunch. 

But after that, we got to walk around and explore the town. We lost the rest of the group, but that's okay. You're supposed to get lost in the city and explore. 

Then we got to go back to our hotel for a much needed nap! But it was another night free for us to roam around and do as the Venetians do. We went to a square that I believe was called Santa Margarita, and EVERYE restaurant had tv's and speakers pointed out to the square to show the world cup. It was crazy packed! I left the square, found a nice quiet restaurant, and ate some salmon. It was amazingly delicious. Fresh seafood, right? 

The next day was completely free until we had to meet for our train ride back, so Lynn, Madelynne and Morgan and I went to Lido, to go to the beach. Apparently, all Italian beaches are topless. I was just not ready to go that far. Which is good, considering how my back is lobster red, and I don't need that on my chest. 

Palazzo Pitti and the Medici Chapel

Whoops! It's been a while since I wrote in my blog. This is like catch up special number 3! But I'm going to break it up into a couple of blogs so don't worry.

Quite honestly I am getting cultured out. Really. There are so many museums and churches here - and they are beautiful and they have culture and all that. I'm happy to see these things... No that's a lie. Sometimes I'm happy to see them, and sometimes I'm just kind of like "When do we get to eat?" I know still to come is the Uffizi and I am excited for that because I really want to see Venus, but I'm sure I'll see much more. (Sorry if this sounds negative, professoressa, but we've inhaled a lot of culture in our 3 weeks here).

So last Wednesday in my culture class, we actually went inside the Palazzi Pitti. It's really grand. I know a lot of these palaces are used now as museums, but it's crazy to remember that centuries ago, this is where people LIVED.

There was a lot of art in there. A LOT. There was nothing that struck me absolutely. But it was cool to see the procession of art through centuries.

That afternoon we went to the Medici chapels. I mean, the Medici really ran Florence for centuries. The Chapel of Princes, where the graves of several Medici patriarchs are resting, is so extravagant. The sarcophagus' are so big and looking over each is a huge statue.

It's been so long since I've written in my blog, so I'm already kind of fuzzy on which days I did what, but I also went to the Synagogue in Florence, which during WWII was used as a garage (Really? A place of worship?) and I also visited San Miniato al Monte, which sits up where Piazza Michelangelo is. So, of course, there was an amazing view. There is a grave yard in the back that is just so huge and there were so many graves. It was strangely beautiful though.

This stuff is great, but what I really enjoy is going out into Florence and...not really sight see, but just experience Florence. I'm trying to not stick out as a tourist, but just experience Florence and the culture the way that Florentines do. One night last week, my roommates Morgan and Madelynne went to Ponte Vecchio and watched the sunset. That was great to me. Going out to King Grizzly and grabbing an Italian craft beer and hanging out with other students on this trip and maybe having a conversation with an Italian, if they speak any english and can understand my attempts at speaking italian, is so fun to me. 

Eat ALL The Food

If you couldn't tell from reading some of my blogs, I am seriously loving the food over here. There is such a different taste to everything. It's all so fresh! And not as processed as everything is at home. I've decided it's time to just dedicate a blog to food.

The Italians have such an appreciation of food. It's so sweet the emphasis they put on tasting everything we eat. I know I have an inclination to scarf down food without even tasting it, but that would be doing an disservice to the food. I find myself chewing slower and putting down my utensils so I don't rush through my meal. I was trying to savor the taste of some beef one night. My waiter thought I didn't like it because I was going so slow! 

The pasta and pizza are great, too. I'm not a big fan of red sauce, but I didn't want to ask every server I have to remove their signature sauce from my dishes, so I'm dealing with it. But it tastes pretty good here. I can't handle that if I order a pizza, I get a pretty big personal size. Most of the time I have to give in and take it home. 

I'm kind of in love with this whole "aperitivos" thing, too. Many restaurants or cafes, even the public library here, have a special where you buy a drink and then you get to eat this buffet of small finger foods. It's not quite dinner, but it tides you over since Italians eat so late. This picture isn't from aperitivos, but my roommates and I got some wine, cheese, and meat antipasto before dinner one night. 

The produce here tastes better to me, too. I was cutting some tomato the other day for a salad, and I could not help but note how firm it was. So crisp. Then yesterday, I just really wanted to make a salad. I bought some lettuce, cucumber, bell peppers, and more tomato. It was some of the best looking produce I've ever gotten. Not mass-produced either. I bought it at a market. 

 

Bread, cheese, pasta, proscuitto - you name it. It's just better.

And the coffee. Good lord I don't know how I'll ever survive again on the American watered down version. I treat myself to the glory of espresso every day. If I don't (and I've tried) I fall asleep.

This is a cappuccino though. 

Did you know you can still get gelato at midnight? That has been a great comfort to me. So creamy. Grom is the best place to go in Florence! 

The Bargello

Before I go in to my  time spent at the Bargello and Piazza Michelangelo, I wanted to talk about the rest of Shelby's birthday. The other roommates wanted to go to a market, but I wasn't interested nor did I want to be tempted to spend money, so I decided to stay home and do other equally fun and important things - homework, housework, and blogging. My life is glamorous, you see?

For dinner, we decided to try a place near our house called Yellowbar, which has gotten great reviews on Yelp. One of the managers brought us in and took us to a window of the kitchen, and showed us that the restaurant truly makes their pasta fresh, which they are quite proud of. I appreciated it! And as much as I wanted to order some of the delicious pasta, and offer was given to me by my roommate to split a Florentine steak. So I had to go for it. My only regret was agreeing to share it. After eating it I knew deep in my heart I could've done it alone. And it was the most amazing steak I've ever eaten (sorry not sorry dad).

Monday was supposed to be a free day, but because basically everything shuts down next week for the feast of San Giovanni, Professoressa Sara wanted to have make up class. We walked over to Palazzo Pitti, but we were unable to go inside. Rumor has it we go inside tomorrow.

Then Professoressa Moira took us to the Bargello. Oh man... I loved seeing the sculptures on the first floor. But we'll get to that. We saw some good stuff. We saw all sorts of weapons and armor from the Medici "reign" (that's what we'll call it). We also saw the plates that the wealthy families ate off of. My god they were so fancy. It's hard to imagine they were just used to serve food!

 






We moved on to a room dedicated to pieces by Donatello. I found his David, which I have to say really feels like a woman, and his St. John. My namesake! Awesome

 

On the first floor were several Michelangelo pieces. It's so weird to see so many sculptures by one of the greatest artists around Florence.

After the Bargello we decided to take a walk/hike over the Arno to Piazza Michelangelo. I was tired and I was over walking, but it was so worth it. We went through a beautiful garden with the sweetest smelling flowers up to the terrace of the piazza. The view of Florence was incredible. A scene out of a painting. 

Also, I ate a crepe. 

That night there was a crazy water ballet on the Arno River. Morgan and I went, but it was so packed I was just basically shoved up against other humans. 

From what I did see, there were extravagant. I also LOVED the music. It was a crazy carnival/french theme. They also had a great display of fireworks. Nothing like the fourth of July though. 

Pisa, Lucca and Chianti

On Thursday, we were supposed to view the Bargello, but unfortunately that street of Florence was experiencing a black out. So we were not able to go inside the museum. Instead we got a free day where we went to Ponte Vecchio and Piazza della Repubblica so I could do some shopping! I did not mind that at all.

Then we got up REALLY early Friday morning to head out to Pisa. It was extremely hot. I just gotta point that out. And I was in jeans and a longer shirt because we were going into churches. I did not think that through. 

When we got to Pisa, our tour guide took us to the gates that would take us into the city. She said close your eyes and when you walk through, be ready. When I stepped through those gates and saw the buildings, I was truly in awe. They were so beautiful. There is an amazing contrast between the green grass and the while marble of the building that makes these buildings stand out in such an amazing way. 

We first went inside the baptistery. There were signs all over that said silence, but everyone talked anyway. Then this man steps toward the baptismal fountain and begins shushing everyone. I thought it was so annoying that he expected everyone to be quiet, but then he cupped his hands over his mouth and began to sing. And his changing pitch with the way the sound hung in the air from the echo filled the entire baptistery with the most beautiful sound. I can't seem to load the video on here unfortunately. 

From the baptistery, you get an amazing view of the cathedral. I think it is so crazy that they took four architects from various places around the world, and they worked in harmony to create a new style for the church. It works. 

The feast of Saint Rainerius, the patron saint of Pisa, is on June 17 so his tomb was on display in the Pisa Cathedral. I can't believe there is even anything still in there after all this time. 

Then we got to see the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. I can't believe how many architects tried to save the structure and it is still leaning. My tour guide said we don't have to worry about it for another 90 years. Good luck to that guy. 

We also visited Camposanto Monumentale. There is so much art everywhere. And graves. Once again, it felt weird to walk on top of so many deceased bodies. 

After Pisa, we went to Lucca. I had a lot of fun in Lucca because we really just got free time the whole time.  Nathan, one of the art students, and I decided to look for a pool or fountain to cool off in, but instead we got a tandem bike and rode around the city. It was fun!

Saturday morning we left to go to Chianti. Finally the wine country!

We were told we would take a small hike to the medieval town of Montefioralle. Oh okay. Well when it's hot and you're walking up a twisting, winding, steep hill, it's not a cute short hike. It's a test of wills. 

The town was cute though, I'll admit. We found the home of Amerigo Vespucci, so that was neat. But the town was so rustic and green with a great view of all the vineyards down below. 

After that we left the city of Greve to go to Vicchiomaggio Castle, where they ferment the wines! We went through the types of grapes and how much of each go into the different types of wine as well as the process of fermentation. 

We were given some free time to roam around the castle. It was filled with lush and beautiful gardens, as well as la piscina! (I wasn't allowed near the pool).  This was also apparently where Da Vinci painted his Mona Lisa, so here's my impression.

And some pictures of wine barrels.

And then my roommates and I!

Then we took a quick bus down to the actually tasting area. We tried 4 different types of wine. In my humble opinion, I needed a little more wine for the tasting :) JK it was good. They also had some antipasto which was good because I'm always hungry. It started raining on our last wine, which was not good at all, so we ended things quickly. The first wine was white, the other two reds, with one as a chianti classico. I'll be sneaking it back to the states with me.

That day was the birthday for Nathan, and that night at midnight was my roommate Shelby's birthday, so we got the whole study abroad group together to find a disco techa! But trying to get 15 people to agree on a place to go is hard. The birthday boy picked a club but it turns out that it closed 5 years ago, so now we're all aimlessly wandering the streets of Firenze for a place to go dancing. This was the dilemma. It wasn't about finding a bar. We've been there and done that. We needed a place with loud music and a dance floor. We just didn't know where that was! We settled on a bar that looked like it had a dance floor. It didn't really, but me and a couple of girls decided it would suffice. The bartender there told us about a club called "Flo" but that we would need cabs to take us there. He was so sweet and called the taxi's for us. But he said 5 minutes. Then I ask him again, and he said 20. Well, now it's about that time I realize he's not calling the damn cab because everyone just buys more drinks the longer they wait. So Ike and I go around, tell people to finish they're drinks, and go to a taxi stand. Where you stand and compete with others for a taxi. And with our group? We needed about 4-5 cabs. I'm a pro though. I waved cabs down for everyone, even the group of random girls near us. I finally get a cab for myself and a couple of girls, but some old woman with an umbrella hopped in, spat something out to me in Italian as if it makes up for it, and yelled at the cabbie till he apologetically looked at me and took off! I was just standing there screaming some choice words, but then a new taxi was there in a minute. 

The club was AWESOME! Minus the hella expensive drinks (I only had two mom and dad). We all just got to dance for like 4 hours and hang out and bond and it was great. I love dancing. 

I got home around 4:30 or 5 and went to my Italian version of Whataburger - the kebab place! That's right. Kebabs. 

Love you Mom, Dad, and Fonz. Dad - I hope you had a great father's day! Red Robin date in the future. And mom - I feel like you're heading to New York soon - please be careful! Let me know when you're with mia nonna.